IN THE END, SAME OLD RESULT FOR THE CHARGERS

A three-touchdown deficit was not too much for the Houston Texans to overcome.

A three-year deterioration was too much for the Chargers to overcome.

It was one game against a Super Bowl contender, a 31-28 loss to the Houston Texans.

But Mike McCoy said he was hired to win now and to get to the Super Bowl. And so Monday showed how far there is to go.

The Chargers don’t have the players, at present, to get it done against an opponent so strong. It will take longer than one summer to alter a frame of mind.

A three-touchdown lead was lost in the second half. A debut was ruined. A lot of positives were made inconsequential.

The threadbare Chargers were laid bare by a special teams blunder, a gassed defense and a monumental turnover in the fourth quarter.

Sound familiar?

To be fair and accurate, there was much good for the Chargers in this game, much to make you think results will eventually change.

Ryan Mathews ran low and strong and caught his career first touchdown pass. Eddie Royal, limited by injury in 2012, caught two touchdown passes. Vincent Brown, out all of 2012 with a broken ankle, caught a touchdown pass. Linebacker Jarret Johnson carried a fantastic preseason into the regular season. The clock did not overwhelm the Chargers during a two-minute touchdown drive at the end of the first half. There was an unmistakable excitement.

Certainly, notice was served that this is a different staff, that a different mentality is being stirred.

But on this night, all we can say is that the Chargers came close.

And we’ve had our fill of close.

A three-touchdown lead built 2½ minutes into the third quarter vanished because the Chargers did not make a first down on their final six possessions

Their defense kept making plays.

But after the Chargers had stalled a Texans drive at the 19-yard line, and Texans kicker Randy Bullock booted a 37-yard field goal that would have kept the Chargers’ lead at 11 points with 14:52 to play, Cam Thomas — whose interception on the season’s first play set up a Chargers touchdown on the next play — committed a penalty by making contact with the center on the field-goal attempt. Enforcement of the rule was a point of emphasis for officials this year, as they explained to players in training camp.

Houston got a first down at the 9, and Owen Daniels caught a pass in the end zone on the next play to get the Texans within a touchdown.

The Chargers went three-and-out on their next possession.

They stopped the Texans — only to have Rivers make perhaps his first bad pass on a heretofore brilliant night. A throw behind Danny Woodhead was intercepted by Brian Cushing and returned 18 yards for a touchdown that tied the game, 28-28.

It was not insignificant that the only people who seemed more deflated than the Chargers players in the fourth quarter were the fans. A stadium that had for much of the night seemed like it was 2009 was only half-heartedly boisterous in the final quarter.

That’s what happens when a fan base is fatigued.

By the time Bullock’s 41-yard field goal as the clock ran out split the uprights, the result was a foregone conclusion.

Making changes at the top was just a start. There has been a lot of hard work done, but once it got real for the first time, the fruit of that labor was ready to provide a bountiful harvest.

And this team has a ways to go to win back this town.

That there were 3,500 tickets unsold for this game as of Friday night is as telling as it is pathetic. The Chargers needed a 24-hour extension from the NFL and for someone (ESPN, KUSI, Dean Spanos?) to pay for the unsold tickets in order for the telecast to be shown on local television.

That’s what you get. Now, a strong slate of opponents minimizes the potential for blackouts.

San Diego bleeds blue and gold, but its citizenry — in this economy, with this weather — is still not going to part with its green for nothing more than a tease.